


Polaris

by ky_lime_pie



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Bittersweet, Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, Fluff, Heart-to-Heart, Homesickness, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Nostalgia, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29782119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ky_lime_pie/pseuds/ky_lime_pie
Summary: Penumbra often thinks about her life before the invasion. She feels guilty for missing her former life as a lieutenant. But, she finds understanding in her best friend Della Duck.(romance isn't the primary focus of this fic)
Relationships: Della Duck/Penumbra
Kudos: 10





	Polaris

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't been feeling good lately, so i decided to pick up one of my old fic ideas to relieve some anxiety and grief. i noticed that there's not a lot of fan works out there that really go in depth about penumbra and how she feels about her new life. so i wrote a little fic about it.
> 
> this fic is based on my own experiences with nostalgia, and how i experience it. 
> 
> trigger warning for implied character death with lunaris. my headcanon is that penumbra and everyone else believe that he died in orbit.

Penumbra knew that she shouldn't have sympathy for Lunaris.

In her heart, she knew that her former General was an insecure man. Lunaris thrived on power. He craved praise like a child, often using his role in their planet's society to seem more powerful than he truly was. To many, Lunaris was a calm, collected leader. But to Penumbra, he was a dismissive, and demeaning, man. 

She had known about his careful temperament when she had become his lieutenant. Every rash decision he made, everytime he would disregard her and many others' advice. Penumbra knew what she was dealing with. She knew that it wasn't a matter of what, but it was a matter of when. Eventually, Lunaris would make a decision that would endanger her people and she would be forced to turn against him. Della Duck just triggered it sooner than later.

She knew that it was for the best that she had sent Lunaris into orbit. She knew that he was bad, and that there was almost nothing else she could do for herself and the people of the universe. But still, there was a feeling that refused to leave her consciences. A sadness that bubbled to the surface when she would look outside at the moon, at her motherland. Penumbra would wake up with doubts about her role in preventing her people's hostile invasion of Calisota. The thought that  _ maybe,  _ she had made a mistake when she had rammed him into the atmosphere would cross her mind. Her purpose was to protect her people, not to unroot their entire lives.

But usually, Penumbra would snap out of her head before she could let her thoughts take control of her. What would allow her to break out of her mind was often a sign that she was on Earth. A sign to ground her to this new life she had chosen for herself. Sometimes, it was the hum of electricity from the television. Other times, it was the whine of a kettle.

But this time, it was the touch of Della Duck's feathery, white hand on her collar.

Penumbra felt the hand trail further and further towards her face, before the hand rested lightly on her cheek. She felt her face relax, but still, she kept her eyes closed.

"Hey, Penny. Penny, wake up." Della's voice was an urgent whisper in the night. Penumbra cracked an eye open, a slit of obsidian peering up at the avian above her. Della had a look of concern on her face, with her beak drawn into a frown. 

"Whas' the problem?" Penumbra asked.

"You're doing the thing again."

Penumbra made a noise of confusion.

"Ugh, what thing?"

"You're struggling."

"Struggling? Della, it is perfectly normal for anyone of any species to move throughout the night."

Della's sympathetic look morphed into a resigned one.

"Penumbra, you looked like you were in pain. That's not normal." Della sighed, and sat beside Penumbra's head.

Penumbra pushed herself up on her elbows, and prepared to sit up on her bed. Della moved away from her as she sat up, the alien rising up to her full height. She rubbed at her eyes, and slumped over herself. Della settled to sit at her side. 

"You know, Penumbra, you can tell me what's wrong. If you had a nightmare, that's totally cool." Della began to trail off. "Well, nightmares aren't cool. Nightmares blow. But you know what I mean. I swear on my life, you can trust me with anything-"

"It was about Lunaris." Penumbra stated.

Della fell silent.

"I was in that spaceship, driving it into the atmosphere. Except this time, there was no Duckberg. I couldn't see Earth at all. And then Lunaris's spaceship was there." Penumbra took a deep breath before she continued. "It just appeared out of nowhere. So, I crashed into it. But instead of just knocking him into space..it burst."

"It blew up?"

"It exploded into space. And I was still alive, and I was watching the fallout. And, there was all this debris. But, I couldn't see his body. I  _ killed _ him."

Penumbra fell silent after she finished explaining what happened. She had a frown on her face, but she didn't appear sad. She appeared to be uncomfortable. Della sighed, and laid a hand on Penumbra's arm.

"That sounds...confusing."

"It was."

An uncomfortable silence settled between them. Penumbra became tense, as if she was ready to leave the room. Della looked at her with an uneasy expression. As if she didn't know what to do.

"Della," Penumbra began. Her voice was much quieter. "Is it.. _ bad _ that I kind of miss my old life?"

Della immediately shook her head.

"Of course not, Roomie."

"Even with Lunaris, and the Moon Mites, and everything else?" Penumbra asked. Della nodded back.

"When I was on the Moon, I missed Duckberg so bad, even with all of it's little annoyances and flaws. I missed Donald and Gladstone's arguments. I missed bitter old Uncle Scrooge. Hell, I even missed Gyro Gearloose. I think that when you go through big life changes, you begin to idolize the past."

"And, Penny, you've been through some massive life changes. You went from a respected military officer, to a fugitive, to a regular, everyday citizen. You're literally on a whole other planet. You've done so much in such little time. It's natural to miss the past, even if it wasn't exactly perfect."

Della's touching words had Penumbra relaxed. Her shoulders fell to a neutral position, and she was leaning to the side ever so slightly. She found it shocking that Della didn't react in disgust at the idea that Penumbra could ever want to go back to the past. What was even more shocking that Della tried to understand what Penumbra was going through. It wasn't like the shallow comfort that she received from the other Moonlanders, who seemed content with their new lives. Every word Della Duck had said to her had meaning, a personal touch that made the words somehow mean something.

"Thank you." Penumbra whispered. It was all she could manage to say.

"It's no problem."

**Author's Note:**

> DO NOT REPOST OR REUPLOAD MY WORK.
> 
> tumblr @ky-lime-pie


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